Is 公庫 actually pronounced like ごうご
I was listening to the pronunciation of 公庫 on http://nihongo.monash.edu/cgi-bin/wwwjdic, and to my surprise, even though the hiragana is こうこ, it totally sounds like ごうご. I'm very confused.

I have encountered cases like this for numerous times, where こ is pronounced ご (e.g., try listen to the pronunciation of ここ on that same site, the second こ totally sounds like ご to me).

I wonder if the pronunciations on that site are actually accurate? If so, is that ko or go? If it is ko, then why it pretty much sounds like go?

Thanks for the help in advance.

Question

Is 公庫 actually pronounced like ごうご
I was listening to the pronunciation of 公庫 on http://nihongo.monash.edu/cgi-bin/wwwjdic, and to my surprise, even though the hiragana is こうこ, it totally sounds like ごうご. I'm very confused.

I have encountered cases like this for numerous times, where こ is pronounced ご (e.g., try listen to the pronunciation of ここ on that same site, the second こ totally sounds like ご to me).

I wonder if the pronunciations on that site are actually accurate? If so, is that ko or go? If it is ko, then why it pretty much sounds like go?

Thanks for the help in advance.

Answer

your expectation of what letter "K" sounds like depends of your native language. For example two languages that are very similar --Estonian and Finnish-- have very different pronunciation of letters "K", "T", "P", etc. When Finnish write "KK", then for Estonians that is "K", when Finnish write "K", then for Estonians that sounds like "G".
in other words, if it is written こうこ then that's how it is pronounced, and if it sounds to you like ごうご then you are mistaken if we talk about Japanese way of pronouncing こ.

Answer

For me, every こ sounds ko in that website, and I am native Japanese.

Answers · 4

Still haven’t found your answers?

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to learn a language from the comfort of your own home. Browse our selection of experienced language tutors and enroll in your first lesson now!